First Minister of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 321
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In Mingshui City, blood had already stained the river red, and the river surface was full of floating corpses, and the shouts of killing continued, and the Eastern Han Army rushed towards Mingshui City one after another, defiantly fearing death.

On the high slope in the south of the city, Li Shimin's face was gloomy, and the veins on his hands behind his back were exposed, "Has Liu Heita increased his troops by four batches today?"

The generals behind were silent, while Qin Qiong looked at Mingshui City in the distance, and said eagerly, "Your Majesty, the final general is willing to attack the enemy's formation, so as to relieve the pressure in the city."

Li Shimin frowned and said nothing, it seemed that Li Shimin was also extremely conflicted.

Seeing this, Li Shiji sighed: "There are still reserve troops in Liu Heita's battalion, and the enemy troops in Ji, Bei and other places have already gathered. Once our army crosses the river, I'm afraid...".

Qin Qiong has always been honest and upright, and when he heard the words, he frowned and retorted: "Then see if Shi Xin will die?"

As soon as the words fell, Li Shimin's face suddenly changed. He stretched out his hand, looked up at the sky, and his face turned pale.

"It's snowing?" Li Shiji exclaimed, and then quickly turned his head to look at Li Shimin, "My lord, once the snow is heavy, Mingshui City will be destroyed."

Li Shimin gritted his teeth, and immediately ordered: "Order Li Yi, the whole army will attack Yongnian City, Qin Qiong will lead his horse army to break through the blockade, and the rest of the troops will prepare to reinforce Mingshui City."

Qin Qiong led the order to go forward, not long after, only two thousand light cavalry roared out around the river bank, but Liu Heitai seemed to have expected that there would be heavy troops on the river bank, and it was Qin Qiong who fought hard and suffered several wounds. Difficult to break the blockade.

Seeing this, Li Shimin continued to increase his troops, and Liu Heitai was as stable as Mount Tai, guarding by the river, and it was difficult for the Tang army to break through half a step.

Even Li Shimin led the army to charge in spite of obstacles, and his morale was like a rainbow, which was of no avail. After all, this was a fortified battle. In front of the army, he also hit a wall.

At the end of February, the land of Hebei was still freezing cold, with heavy snowflakes flying down, and the north wind blowing, Li Shimin's heart became colder and colder. He knew that once the river was blocked by heavy snow, it would be even more difficult for the Tang army to reinforce Mingshui City.

After suffering several wounds, Qin Qiong was finally exhausted and almost fell off the horse. Li Shimin hurriedly ordered the troops to withdraw. Qin Qiong was pulled back by his personal guards, looking at Mingshui City in the distance, with tears in his eyes.

On Mingshui City, Luo Shixin had already abandoned the heavy iron spear, several of the horizontal knives in his hand had been destroyed, and the armor on his body was in tatters.

Luo Shixin, who was covered in blood, was like an iron man, standing firmly on the top of the city, slashing a Handong soldier who climbed up, and then climbed up another man, Luo Shixin just slashed mechanically.

In the distance, Liu Heitai on the high platform looked out with his hands behind his back. Seeing this scene, he couldn't help but sincerely exclaimed: "Shandong Luoshixin is really a tiger in the world."

After a long time, the snow fell more and more heavily, and the Eastern Han Army slowly retreated. Luo Shixin wiped his blood-stained eyes, and looked at the northeast corner.

Luo Shixin is not a reckless man. On the contrary, Luo Shixin has a lot of strategies. When he followed the army to suppress Wang Shichong, he outwitted the Qianjin Fortress, which is enough to prove that once the Eastern Han Army builds a corridor leading directly to Mingshui City, the bandit army will rush into the city, and the end will be to destroy the city and kill people. .

"Counting the troops", Luo Shixin sat down and took out the blood-stained mustache from his arms. It was cold and hard.

Not long after, the personal guard came to report, "There are only four hundred left...".

A trace of sadness flashed in Luo Shixin's eyes, and then he laughed loudly: "Brothers, the heavy snow is good. As a result, the bandit army will be inconvenient to move, and the offensive must be blocked, which is enough to last until the King of Qin reinforces."

Hundreds of Tang soldiers were silent when they heard the words, and their expressions were rather numb. The Eastern Han army attacked for several days. These hundreds of people fought and slept every day, woke up and continued to fight, and then continued to sleep. Already a miracle.

In the south of the city, in the camp of the Tang army, Li Shimin was pacing in the tent, feeling irritable, and said in a deep voice, "Where are the reinforcements from Luoyang?"

"Return to Your Majesty, I reported back yesterday, and have passed through Weizhou," Fang Xuanling said with a bow.

"Just arrived in Weizhou?" Li Shimin's eyes widened, and he was very angry, "He... urged, urged again, all the counties along the way from here to Weizhou have been recovered, and the road is unimpeded, urging the king of Huai'an to speed up."

Fang Xuanling accepted the order.

Liu Heikai raised his troops too quickly, and in just a few months he was able to restore the homeland of Great Xia. After Li Shimin led the way out of Chang'an, he hurried all the way to Luoyang. Before he could recruit troops, he gathered [-] troops and marched into Weizhou. Fighting all the way to Mingshui greatly affected the morale of the Eastern Han Army.

But in this way, Li Shimin's short board is revealed, the troops are too few, which is why a narrow muddy water hinders Li Shimin's advance. While attacking Mingshui fiercely, and Li Shimin's army is small, it is not easy to act rashly, if there is a little carelessness, the whole army may be wiped out.

Therefore, after Li Shimin broke through Xingzhou, he urgently ordered Luoyang to come to help quickly. At this time, the coach of Luoyang was Shandong Daoxingtai Zuopushe and Huaian Wang Li Shentong. After the defeat in Raoyang, Li Shentong fled back in embarrassment. Luoyang.

If someone else was so procrastinating, Li Shimin would definitely scold him bloody, but Li Shentong is Li Yuan's cousin, that is, Li Shimin's cousin, his seniority is there, so Li Shimin dared not speak out.

For the next two consecutive days, the Eastern Han Army continued to attack the city. Fortunately, Mingshui City was not big. Luo Shixin relied on his personal bravery and the willpower of the other Tang troops to defend the city tenaciously. The city already belonged to Datang.

During the period, Li Shimin forcibly crossed the river several times for reinforcements, but returned without success, and was even almost counterattacked by Liu Heitai. Facing the disparity in the number of troops, Li Shimin felt powerless.

On the third day, the heavy snow seemed to stop for a while. Li Shimin was overjoyed, and hurriedly climbed up to look at it. At a glance, his face was pale and his eyes were cracked, "Liu Thief, I will kill you."

It can be seen that the tunnel leads directly to the northeast corner of Mingshui City, a large number of Eastern Han troops are already in formation, and they can rush into the city only after the general gives an order.

Liu Heitai was dressed in golden armor, which was very dazzling. He rode his horse to the river, looked at Li Shimin and others on the high slope on the opposite bank in the distance, drew out the sword at his waist, and pointed it at Mingshui City.

Seeing this, everyone gritted their teeth and looked sad and indignant.

On the top of the wall, Luo Shixin's face was pale, his lips were livid, his eyes were sunken, he was exhausted, and he barely stood upright with his iron gun.

Looking at the Eastern Han Army marching in front of them, the corner of his mouth pulled, he held up his iron gun, and roared angrily: "The general manager of Jiangzhou in the Tang Dynasty, Luo Shixin, the Duke of Shan State, is here, and the bandit army is here to lead him to death."

His voice was hoarse and buzzed in his ears. Looking at Luo Shixin who looked like a murderous god, the Han Dongjun was tall and mighty, but he looked at each other and backed away again and again.

"Kill", Dong Kangmai, the general of the Eastern Han Dynasty, ordered when he saw this, and the Eastern Han Army rushed straight to the top of the city.

(End of this chapter)